Page 24 - Prayer in the Qur'an

22 PRAYER IN THE QUR'AN

Avoiding Standard Expressions While Praying

Prayer is remembering Allah, confessing one's wrongdoings to
Him and expressing one's needs. A heartfelt sincerity is essential for
prayer to be meaningful in these ways.
People repeat standard expressions while praying because,
rather than being a sincere act of worship, people consider prayer as
a sort of ritual, habit or custom. One who grasps Allah's greatness,
fears His punishment, and desires to earn His good pleasure, will
turn to Him with heartfelt sincerity and honesty. Similarly, one who

submits himself to Allah, and takes Him as his only friend and
helper, will admit his troubles and distress to Him. As in the case of
the Prophet Ya'qub (as), who said "… I make complaint about my
grief and sorrow to Allah alone…" (Surah Yusuf: 86), he will admit
his sufferings and requests to Allah, and ask for help and good from
Him alone.
In a prayer that lacks such sincerity—and thus is perceived as an
obligatory ritual or magic spell—the use of stock expressions are un-
avoidable. In such a case, the prayer is performed by uttering some
standard phrases without thinking about their meaning. Prayer,
however, is a person's sincere bond with Allah. Every one has their
own problems, requirements, wishes and state of mind. In this
sense, what matters during prayer is not the words but the state of

mind.
Indeed, the prayers referred to by the Qur'an possess an unaf-
fected style. When we look at the prophets's prayers in general, we
come across frank and heartfelt expressions reflecting their genuine
state of mind.